take these memories (they're good i swear)
by MissingMommy
Summary: "The dragons they saved the trip before this had foretold this, if he was paying any attention. Of course, understanding came much too late." :: CharlieDraco DW!AU.


For LSS round 7. Prompts are (word): alone, (object): umbrella, (color): silver.

For OTP bootcamp with the prompt: thunder.

So many thanks to Tedz for looking over this for me. Please note that the Meta-Crisis works differently in this fic, as I assume that it works several ways in canon. And lastly, sorry not sorry.

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"You know what's happening," Draco whispers. The dragons they saved the trip before this had foretold this, if he was paying any attention. Of course, understanding came much too late.

Charlie, his brave, kind, _loyal_ Charlie meets Draco's eyes. "Yes," he whispers.

Draco steps toward him. The redhead takes a step back, keeping distance between them, knowing Draco's intention.

"I want to stay," he says. Emotions flicker across Charlie's face too quickly for Draco to recognize before settling on determination. "Please."

"This is going to kill you. You know a human was never meant to take a Time Lord consciousness into their own mind," Draco replies. He can barely keep his speech steady. His hearts are thumping painfully fast in his chest.

He realizes he's thinking too much about Charlie when the other man closes his eyes, hissing in pain. Draco's never seen a Time Lord-Human Meta-Crisis before. Watching Charlie, he can only imagine the pain of a human brain trying to stretch to accommodate a Time Lord consciousness. He takes this moment of weakness to cross the distance between them. Charlie's eyes snap open when he feels Draco's hands against the skin of his neck.

"Please don't. I want to stay with you."

He leans forward and presses his lips to Charlie's. The kiss quickly turns from gentle to desperate. Much too soon, Draco pulls away, not going too far. He knows if he wastes any more time, it can be dangerous to the other man.

"I love you," he murmurs.

He watches Charlie's eyes widen with surprise. It's the first time he's said it out loud; he's always preferred to show it with actions. Words can't be trusted, but actions can.

He uses the redhead's surprise against him, placing his fingers against Charlie's temples. Charlie tries to squirm away but his hold is too strong.

"Please no, Doctor," the redhead begs.

"I love you," Draco repeats in lieu of an apology.

He closes his eyes despite not wanting to. He concentrates on all the adventures the two of them went on, and he takes it within his own mind. He takes everything. There can't be a memory or a feeling left behind.

Charlie slumps against him. Draco holds him close for a moment, savoring his heat for the last time. He leans the other man against the console. Knowing Charlie will be asleep for a while, Draco takes his sweet time flipping the right switches and pressing the right buttons.

He's not ready to let Charlie go. His Tardis is humming at him mournfully as it lands. The atmosphere is settling from the trip to a different place, causing some disturbances in the weather; it's faux raining as a result.

It takes him a while to manage to get Charlie from the Tardis to the front door. Another redhead swings the door open. The man in the doorway is taller than Charlie, with the same shocking red hair and blue eyes.

"Oh good! You're -" He breaks off as he finally sees Draco holding Charlie up. He quickly helps Draco get his brother inside. "What happened?"

Suddenly, Draco is surrounded by more of Charlie's family. He's met them all at some point or another, but he's never seen them all together.

"Doctor," Charlie's mother greets happily. Then she sees Charlie being held up between him and Bill. Her happy expression fades.

Bill helps him maneuver Charlie to the couch. Draco takes one last look at his lover. He looks peaceful sleeping, as if he isn't missing his memories. He forces himself to look away.

"In order to end the Daleks threat, Charlie jumpstarted a Meta-Crisis. He basically took my mind inside his body. It was killing him so I had to take his memories of me," Draco explains softly.

Draco frowns as he takes in their concerned looks. "He's fine. He'll probably notice that his memory feels wrong which means he'll question you about. But you can't tell him; he can't ever remember the traveling, me, any of it."

"But he's never been happier than travelling with you," Ginny argues fiercely. "Can't you fix this?"

He shakes his head. "I can only take the memories. If he's reminded of anything we've done, he will die. It's," he pauses, inhaling sharply. "It's better this way."

Ginny takes a step towards Draco, shoving her index finger into his chest hard. "You can't think that. You must know a way to fix it!" she exclaims.

Charlie shifts on the couch. From experience, Draco knows the other man is close to waking up. "He'll be awake soon. I should go."

Draco makes his way through Charlie's family. He's out the door and halfway to the Tardis when he hears his name being called. He turns around to see Bill behind him, an umbrella held above his head to keep himself dry in the middle of the atmospheric transference.

"What are you going to do now?" Bill asks.

"I don't know. My Tardis will take me somewhere," Draco assures him.

"I'd hate to think you're going to be alone," the other man says. "Charlie talked about how much of an arsehole you were in beginning. He thought it was the loneliness that made you bitter."

Draco turns away from Charlie's brother.

"You really love him, don't you?"

Draco closes his eyes as he gets soaked by the rain that's not really rain. "I was going to tell him my name."

Bill laughs. All it does is remind Draco of Charlie, and it causes his hearts to contract painfully. "I take it that it's an important custom for you."

"Time Lords don't tell others their name," he answers, opening his eyes and turning around. "Very few ever know a Time Lord's real name. I wanted him to know."

"Whatever choice Charlie made today, it's because he wanted to. Because he loves you." Bill meets Draco's silver-grey eyes for the first time since he's showed up. "Wherever you go and whatever you do, just remember that."

Draco shakes at the mention of Charlie's name. "Take care of him."

"Of course I will. Make sure you take care of yourself. For Charlie's sake. He'd hate if this is what broke you, that he broke you."

Draco nods, and watches as Bill goes back in the house before he turns back to his Tardis. He is soaking wet and slightly cold when he gets back into the warmth the Tardis provides.

Her humming is thundering through his body. He puts a hand on her console. "It will be okay. He has his family, and I have you. It will be okay."

Her humming doesn't get any softer as he pulls levers and presses buttons. He sees Charlie's clothes from the trip before this last one laying on the floor near the console as he goes to flip the last switch.

He remembers pulling them off Charlie as he grinned with excitement, as adrenaline rushed through both of their bodies. He remembers the way Charlie kissed him then. Remembers the way his body felt against his own.

He can't stop himself from remembering everything else. The way Charlie's face lit up with delight the first time Draco took him to a new planet. The way he always looked in wonder as they travelled. Draco had never appreciated the universe until he saw it through Charlie's eyes.

Everything was beautiful - the library, the spaceships at the end of time, and the planet with the dragons. Their third trip had been his favorite. Mostly because that's when he had realized that he was in love with the redhead. While Charlie watched the dragons in amazement, all Draco could do was look at him.

There had been so many trips, so many places that Draco had taken him. Even as far as the system that Gallifrey once resided in. But then what the dragon said came true and Charlie begged him for the Meta-Crisis.

He closes his eyes, blocking out both sets of memories. "Take me somewhere to make this better," he whispers as he flips the last switch.

The Tardis does. She always does.


End file.
